Apart from scoring a truly outstanding goal, he took the game by the scruff of the neck, he wanted the ball, he produced a number of storming runs and he showed he has the quality to be on board that flight to Rio.

His form has been up and down in recent weeks – but I just think he has something in his locker that not many other players possess.

He might not start matches in Brazil, but the kind of quality that beat Joe Hart may be needed at some stage and he has the ability to produce it.

He can do something out of the ordinary – as he has shown several times for Everton this season – and we simply haven’t got too many English players capable of that to be able to overlook him.

Ross will benefit from the experience of training and travelling with an international squad – and will develop as the tournament progresses.

Something similar happened with Paul Gascoigne in 1990, when Bobby Robson couldn’t make up his mind whether to take him or not, then eventually decided to gamble.

The gamble certainly paid off and Gazza was one of the stars of the tournament.

It was suggested at the weekend that Ross’s team-mate, John Stones, should also join him on the plane to Brazil – but I think that may be just too much of a risk.

Don’t get me wrong, I rate John Stones enormously as a player and I am convinced that he will be an England centre-half one day, but he’s only been playing Premier League football since January and it would be a big ask for him to step up into an international environment.

On current form, he’s performing better than his young central defensive rivals like Chris Smalling and Phil Jones.

But they have much more experience – certainly at international level – and it would probably be as big a shock to John as it would be to us if he was suddenly called up for Brazil.

But there’s no doubt in my mind that Ross Barkley is ready to be exposed to that kind of pressure – and expectation.

He’s already played for his country, he’s developing as a footballer all the time – and he has a rare talent.

Roy Hodgson will overlook him at his peril when he names his 23-man squad to travel to Brazil later this summer.